REVOLUTION IN THE SOUTH 



madge in Georgia and the establishment of the South- 

 ern Research Institute are both symptoms of this rev- 

 olution. A most auspicious omen is an entirely new atti- 

 tude towards raw materials. Nothing will have a greater 

 influence upon the future economic development of the 

 South. 



Conservation of Southern natural resources has long 

 been a worthy cause faithfully supported by a few en- 

 thusiasts for the common good. They have not had 

 much active sympathy from their neighbors who have 

 generally regarded them as mildly demented, wildly 

 agitated visionaries. They have had little help from 

 the men and corporations who control these valuable 

 assets. There have been plenty of instances of typically 

 American exploitations of raw materials, but by and 

 large, the attitude has been pretty much that of the 

 wife of a Georgia cracker when approached by the 

 forester of the nearby paper mill. She listened atten- 

 tively to his plea to prevent forest fires and his ex- 

 planation of the benefits that would accrue to them if 

 the unburned land were allowed to reseed itself. "Why, 

 in seven or eight years we'll be coming around and 

 paying you a pretty penny for pulpwood. So if there's 

 a fire in your woods, call on us. Well come over and 

 help you." 



"We don't need no help from you, Mister," she re- 

 plied with spirit. "Doan worry about us. My oY man'll 

 get all our land, an' plenty of yours, burned over before 



15 



